Discovering Europe
A new donor country
Romania’s entry into the European Union at the beginning of 2007 marked a turning point in its foreign policy as the country embraced Europe’s cooperation and development objectives, and joined the group of donor countries. However, with regard to the ACP countries, it is a policy that remains embryonic.
The Berlaymont building, Brussels 2006.
© EC
Accession to the EU in January 2007 represented an historic moment for Romania, although the benefits of membership had already made themselves felt before this date with a series of reforms and an average 6% growth rate over the previous seven years. Foreign investments had also seen a sharp increase but unemployment had remained low. However, becoming a full member of the ‘club’ brought the benefits of complete access to the internal market, economic policies and the social cohesion of the EU, coupled with an increased presence on the international stage. For Romania’s Permanent Representation to the European Union, 2007 was a clear success for the country in economic, social and political terms. But Europe aside, what about its policies towards other countries and specifically those of the ACP?
“The support of Ceausescu’s communist regime for certain African countries damaged the image of cooperation,” explains Daniel Daianu, recently elected as a Liberal member of the European Parliament.
“Political regimes come and go, but the people remain,” stresses Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu, who does not rule out political dialogue with an economic dimension in order to win new markets for Romania and diversify energy supply sources. The reality is that Romania is losing markets in Africa as economic and trade relations turn increasingly towards Western and geographically closer countries. Today the country’s principal trading partners in sub-Saharan markets are Angola, the Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Sudan and South Africa.
Yet as they stress at the Permanent Representation to the EU, Romania has much to offer to African States. Indeed, Romania’s universities train over 30,000 experts and these have contributed to a wide range of activities, with a significant number of them currently working in various African States: civil engineering and infrastructure projects in Nigeria and Ghana; mining and oil-drilling operations in Nigeria, Senegal and Burundi; farming projects in Mozambique and Madagascar; water drilling in Zambia, and assembly plants for the automotive and rail industry in Nigeria.
Socialist MEP Corina Cretu believes now is the time to forge new relations between Romania and other countries, not forgetting that as a donor country Romania must now take account of its own responsibilities.
Former Finance Minister Daniel Daianu offers some words of reassurance: “Eastward EU enlargement does not mean a reduced cooperation budget. On the contrary, the global budget is experiencing growth. That said, development cooperation policy in Romania remains rather parochial and this must change!”
Good little soldier
Even if, since it joined the EU, relations between Romania and the countries of sub-Saharan Africa have assumed an important dimension in its foreign policy, it is Euro-Atlantic integration that remains the number one objective, as they explain at the Permanent Representation in Brussels. Countries that are geographically close, especially in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, are the priority, together with those in the process of stabilisation where Romania is participating in peacekeeping operations, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. As a peacekeeper, Romania has been the ‘good little soldier’ on the international stage. To date, Bucharest has never refused when called upon to participate in peacekeeping operations, with troops deployed in Haiti, the DRC, the Côte d’Ivoire (all French-speaking countries), Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sudan, Liberia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Timor Leste, Georgia and Kosovo.
As we said earlier, with EU membership Romania ceased to be a beneficiary country and became a donor, and will soon be contributing to the European Development Fund (EDF). It also plans to co-finance projects on the African continent alongside other EU countries. At the same time, the Romanian Government has expressed its desire to support the Millennium Development Goals, as well as UN activities in the fields of education and health, climate change, food security, humanitarian aid and peacekeeping.
Francophonie
Five million out of the 22 million inhabitants of Romania speak French, which makes Romania a member of the ‘Francophonie’. In 2007, the Romanian Government introduced a system of study grants known as Eugène Ionesco Awards, which are intended for foreign nationals seeking to study at Romania’s institutes of higher education. Under this scheme, Romania awards a total of €1 million annually to PhD students and researchers from French-speaking southern countries. The aim is to allow students and researchers from these countries to spend at least 10 months at one of Romania’s 15 institutions of higher education that are renowned for their academic excellence. The maximum number of grants awarded in 2007 was 70 and this will increase to 120 in 2008. Currently in its first year, the Eugène Ionesco programme has brought to Romania researchers from Benin, Cameroon, the Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mauritania, Madagascar and Senegal.
The 11th Francophonie Summit, held in Bucharest in September 2006, presented a series of events covering several cultural aspects. The ‘Francophonie in rhythm and images’ event, for example, saw artists and groups from Morocco, Haiti, the DRC, Djibouti, Vietnam, Senegal and Guinea give open-air performances that were much appreciated by the Romanian public. An art exhibition entitled ‘Senegal – Romania: dialogue on the glass road’sought to combine the cultural diversity of the two countries by presenting the work of 10 artists.
